


After A Fashion

by LadyShadowphyre



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Aromantic Sam Winchester, Asexual Castiel, Bakery AU, Bakery Owner Sam, Demi-Sexual Sam Winchester, Designer Castiel, Fashion Designer AU, M/M, Nosy Cousin Gabriel, Sastiel Creations Challenge, Sastiel Tenth Anniversary Celebration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-13 23:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16481672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: Internationally known fashion designer Castiel Adzinota is considered a bit of a recluse. Most people tend to speculate that the designer spends all his time locked away in his studio in a creative furor, only emerging when obligation demands that he make a personal appearance. Very few people would ever guess that he prefers to spend most of his time in a quiet but eccentric cafe under the care of the gentle giant with sunflower eyes who presided over the establishment.





	After A Fashion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Sastiel Creation Challenge](https://sastielcreationschallenge.tumblr.com/). Sastiel 10th Anniversary prompts: summer, birth, "You know when your phone buzzes, it means I’m trying to talk to you, right?"

**A** BLUEBERRY CREAM cheese and honey croissant and a cup of black coffee with a single pump of almond syrup. It was the first thing Castiel had ever ordered from the quiet little cafe and bakery known as the Chocolate Moose, and nineteen times out of twenty it was his usual order. The only times he ever changed it were for holiday specials and the monthly "experiment" the cafe put out for taste-testing. Rarely was Castiel disappointed in the offerings, and even those disappointments were because he didn't care for the flavors, not because of any fault in the quality of the pastries or drinks offered. It was, in short, the perfect place for Castiel to escape and allow himself to decompress from all the pressures that piled on top of him outside the welcoming walls of the Chocolate Moose, hidden away from prying eyes and paparazzi.

Not that any of those vultures would ever guess that cold and aloof designer and fashion mogul Castiel Adzinota would even look twice at a tiny, eccentric little bakery like this, yet the Chocolate Moose had been Castiel's refuge for three years. More than that, it had been his primary source of inspiration. Every new fashion line, every dress or suit or shoe, all of them found their birth here in this little bakery under the kind eyes of the staff who had to know by now who he was and yet never said a word.

He had noticed the pattern of his inspiration that first summer, an entire line of pret-a-porter based around the colorful frosting of the bakery's new summer tarts just after a haute couture line that had been inspired by the icing of the spring cupcakes. It had bothered him a little, perhaps more than he wanted to admit, that he had ended up confessing his uncertainty to the tall man behind the cash register whose apron was frequently dotted with icing or flour or splashes of coffee. Sam had listened patiently to the explanation, washing and drying his hands carefully before handling the sketches Castiel showed him as "proof", and then shook his head.

"For such an obvious creative genius," he'd said as he picked up a clean ceramic mug and began pouring coffee into it, "you're kind of an idiot."

"...Thank you?" Castiel had been at a loss as to how to take such a backhanded compliment. Sam had snorted softly and set the coffee mug aside to pick up one of the sketches.

"Look, I know better than most how fickle inspiration can be," Sam had said. "If you were blatantly ripping off the designs and making identical pastries, we'd have a problem, but this?" He had waved the sketch a little, being careful to keep it from flashing the whole room. "This isn't theft. Hell, unless someone was very familiar with our cupcakes, it's not even obvious! We had twelve different color schemes and patterns this season, and you only used eight of them and it was your choice which eight you pulled inspiration from. Same for the tarts-- you've picked from among the fruits that had a common aesthetic even if the individual combinations are more varied and, again, you aren't using all of them."

"I'm not even using all of my favorite flavors," Castiel had admitted, then blushed when Sam had raised an eyebrow.

"Blueberry cream cheese and honey, right?" At Castiel's startled look, Sam had flushed. "I kind of figured you probably wouldn't order the same thing nearly every time you come in here if you didn't really, really like it."

"It's not the only thing I like here," Castiel had blurted out, his cheeks flushing bright enough to match Sam's. The hesitant, beaming smile he got in response was well worth the embarrassment. Sam's tender and affectionate kisses, it turned out later, were even sweeter than Castiel's favorite croissant.

Castiel's musings were interrupted by the scrape of wooden chair legs against stone tiles opposite his seat. He looked up, wondering if perhaps he was misremembering Sam's usual schedule for breaks, and immediately wished he hadn't. Instead of the soft green and golden eyes of his boyfriend, he was met with the sharper, more glittering golden brown eyes of his cousin. Gabriel Saldainis made a decent living as a food critic, more out of a desire to avoid his brothers and their mutual wealth than anything else, but he was Castiel's favorite of the lot of them and one of four people who always knew how to get ahold of him. Thus far, Castiel had managed to keep Gabriel away from the Chocolate Moose, not wanting anything to intrude upon the peace he found here, but it seemed his reprieve was at an end.

"You know when your phone buzzes, it means I’m trying to talk to you, right?" Gabriel drawled with an upward quirk of his eyebrows.

"You know when I don't answer, it means I'm ignoring you, right?" Castiel snarked back under his breath. "What do you want, Gabriel?"

"A giant chocolate fountain in my bedroom and unlimited access to the Spearmint Rhino," came the flippant reply which Castiel could not be entirely certain was a joke, "but I'll settle for you actually picking up your phone when any one of the three people you actually deign to speak to is calling."

"Four," Castiel muttered with a mulish pout. If his cousin was determined to highlight Castiel's socially awkward and reclusive nature, the least he could do was get the number right.

It was the wrong response. Instead of rolling his eyes and scoffing, Gabriel actually sat up straighter and pinned Castiel with a narrow, searching look. Castiel froze, unsure what Gabriel was looking for and even less sure that he wanted the other man to find it. He was so on edge that he nearly jumped out of his skin when Gabriel slumped backwards and let out a bark of laughter.

"Will wonders never cease!" the blonde man snorted, shaking his head. "And here I thought Balt was blowing smoke up my ass when he told me some lucky son of a bitch with a camera got a clear shot of you leaving a jewelry store with a purchase bag!"

"Shh!" Castiel hissed, all color draining from his face at the impact of the words. Frantic blue eyes darted around the small shop to check that they hadn't been unduly noticed or overheard, but the shop remained blessedly quiet and the space behind the counter was empty of employees. He turned a wary look back on a gleeful Gabriel who was smirking at him in a most irritating fashion. "It's not what you think!"

"Oh no~?" Gabriel drawled, still smirking. "So you weren't at  _ Chaumet _ two days ago picking up an unspecified item which you purchased using the  _ family account _ \- an account that you haven't touched since you signed the papers to deposit a monthly tithe from your fashion earnings into it, I might add - and then sit here across from me saying that the  _ three _ people you bother to speak to on any kind of regular basis - namely me, Balt, and Hannah - is now  _ four _ ?" The smirk shifted to a razor-sharp grin as Gabriel all but purred, "Oh, yes, Cassie, do tell how it's 'not what I think', because I would  _ love _ to hear the explanation otherwise!"

Castiel winced. "I... may have someone. Romantically speaking." He swallowed. "After a fashion."

"After a fashion," Gabriel repeated, deadpan. "You're in one of the most upscale jewellery boutiques in Paris making purchases--"

" _ One _ purchase!"

"-- _ Purchases _ with the  _ family account _ , and you 'may have someone'?" Gabriel's expression was getting more and more incredulous. Unfortunately, his volume was rising accordingly. "'After a fashion'?! Cassie, what the hell?! When were you going to tell me?!" Abruptly, Gabriel narrowed his eyes again, causing Castiel to flinch back. " _ Were _ you going to tell me?"

"Of course I was going to tell you!" Castiel hissed, desperate to try and get Gabriel to quit making a scene. "I was going to tell all of you, but only after I talked it over with--"

"Who, Cassie?" Gabriel demanded, leaning forward and putting one hand on the table between them. "Who do you have to talk to before talking to your  _ family _ about bringing in a new addition?"

"Sam might not say yes!" Castiel blurted out, voice raw and pained despite the low volume. Gabriel blinked and fell back again, and Castiel pressed his advantage. "You and Balthazar and Hannah are the only ones who even try to be understanding about the way I am. If I let slip about Sam to any one of you, and you went and told Michael or, God forbid, Aunt Naomi before I even manage to broach the subject, never mind asking the question--"

"If you're that uncertain about the girl, then why the  _ fuck _ were you in  _ Chaumet _ ?" Gabriel snapped.

"There is no  _ girl _ !" Castiel snarled back.

Gabriel blinked.

Castiel glared back at him.

For a long moment, no one spoke. Then, like a bullet from a gun and a wave breaking on the shore, Castiel heard a familiar and much anticipated voice ask in a politely measured tone, "Is there a problem here?"

"Everything's fine, Sam," Castiel answered, not turning his glare away from his cousin, the tension in his shoulders easing without his conscious direction at his boyfriend's proximity. "Gabriel was just leaving."

"So eager to get rid of me, Cassie?" Gabriel baited, golden eyes narrow and sharp as the quick mind behind them began to put the pieces together. "Even though I'm the only thing standing between you and the ravenous hoard of paparazzi?"

Castiel tensed again, unable to help it. His hands clenched tight into fists where they rested, nearly crumpling the paper in his sketchbook where he had been absently doodling a tuxedo design.  _ You wouldn't. _

_ Try me _ , the quirk of Gabriel's lips answered.

Warmth registered against the back of Castiel's hand before he consciously noted that Sam had reached down and covered his hand with his, easing the clench of his fist to uncrumple the paper. Castiel let himself bask in that warmth until Sam's voice broke through again. "Sir, if you continue to harass my customer, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Castiel's eyes snapped from Gabriel up to Sam, going wide. The younger man's expression was still placid and pleasant, but there was a hard set to his eyes as he looked at Gabriel, a silent assurance that he could and would remove the other man from the bakery if Gabriel made an issue of it. Castiel glanced back at Gabriel to see how his cousin was taking this to find the other man's expression caught somewhere between amusement and incredulity.

"Do you even know who I am, kiddo?" he asked, eyebrows quirked. Castiel fought down a wince. Sam was a little self-conscious of his "baby face", and calling him "kiddo" was only slightly better than the one time some idiot had called him "son".

To his credit, Sam kept his tone and expression pleasant, though his eyes narrowed just a fraction more. "No, sir. Do you know who I am?"

Gabriel's brows drew together, no doubt wondering what that had to do with anything. "No..."

"Then we're even!" Sam said, bright and cheerful and deceptively amiable. "So unless you intend to order something and relocate to a different table, I believe Cas said you were just leaving?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly go anywhere without first speaking to your manager," Gabriel answered with a too saccharine smile. Castiel felt a prickle of unease go up his spine.

"Gabriel," he started, but faltered when Sam's fingers gently squeezed where they still covered his on the table.

"Our afternoon manager just left for the day," he said in that same pleasant, professional tone he had been using ever since he approached. "Would you prefer to speak to the owner?"

"Absolutely," Gabriel said, eyes narrowing. Castiel, resigned now to the situation being thoroughly out of his control, slumped back and picked up his coffee to drain the last dregs of it.

"It'll be just a moment before he can attend to you," Sam was saying, withdrawing his hand. Castiel missed the warmth immediately, but made no protest. "Cas, would you like a refill?"

"Please and thank you," Castiel muttered, lifting the empty mug for Sam to take, which he did with only the minimum of finger brushing.

"Excuse me, please," Sam said with a polite nod and turned away. Castiel watched out of the corner of his eye as Sam slid behind the counter and set about the familiar motions of preparing Castiel's coffee exactly the way the designer preferred. While the mug slowly filled, Sam casually removed his apron, running his fingers through his hair to neaten it up a bit, then finished up with the coffee and stepped back around the counter to return to the table. Casually setting the refilled coffee on the table in its usual spot, he said, "Good afternoon, gentlemen, I'm Sam Winchester, owner of the Chocolate Moose. I understand you wanted to speak with me?"

There was a tense sort of silence, Castiel not quite holding his breath as he watched as Gabriel struggled to pick up his hanging jaw in response to what was clearly an unexpected turn of events before, like a light switch being flipped, he burst out laughing. "Well played, kiddo!" he chortled, giving a slow clap through his mirth. "Well played!"

Sam inclined his head in acknowledgement of the compliment, lips twitching between amusement and irritation, and Castiel allowed himself to relax more fully. Really, as first meetings between Sam and any member of his family could have gone, this one might not be ideal but it wasn't going badly. He resisted the urge to tense up the moment the thought registered, some touch of paranoid superstition telling him that it would be a very bad idea to let down his guard just because things were going well.

His instincts bore out when Gabriel followed up with an obvious once-over to Sam and a drawling, "So, given your familiar and tactile proximity to my dear cousin, can I assume that you're the same Sam with whom Cassie is romantically involved?"

_ Damn _ , Castiel thought, feeling his gut clench. To his surprise, though, Sam shrugged.

"I suppose I am, after a fashion," he said. Gabriel, predictably, scoffed.

"'After a fashion', again?" he said. "Not very serious for you if you can't say one way or the other, I take it."

"Gabriel," Castiel bit out, a warning note in his voice.

"What?" Gabriel demanded. "You can't yell at me for trying to look out for you, Cassie! You as good as said you don't think he's serious about you!"

"That's not-- I didn't--!" Castiel spluttered. "I know perfectly well exactly how serious our relationship is, as you were so hamhandedly pointing out earlier, you-- Sam, I swear, please--"

"Cas!" Sam's hands came down on Castiel's shoulders, warm and steadying, and Castiel forced himself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing himself to calm. Sam gently began to knead at the tense muscles in his shoulders, and Castiel found himself relaxing further as Sam added, "It's okay, angel. I'm not sure what you said, but I know you didn't mean it the way he's taking whatever it was."

"He's like Dean," Castiel muttered, leaning his head back enough that it thumped softly against Sam's firm abs, baring his throat easily to the gentle stroking motions of Sam's fingers and thumbs.

"So, well-meaning horndog who knows and tries to be supportive but doesn't really understand?" Sam asked, humming thoughtfully when Castiel mumbled a wordless assent. "Well, then. You're aware of Cas's sexuality?"

"He doesn't like sex," Gabriel said bluntly. "Frankly, the kid barely even likes  _ people! _ "

"Being asexual is not exactly the same as not liking sex," Sam corrected. "I'm demi-sexual myself, meaning I need a strong emotional connection with a person before I even consider sex an option. The thing is, I'm also aromantic, meaning I don't fall in love and don't experience or even want a typical romantic relationship. Familial, friendship, those I can do, but romance... no."

"So he's, what, your best friend with occasional groin-bumping?" Gabriel asked, eyebrows raised skeptically. "You always so handsy and defensive of your friends, Gigantor?"

"Mr Saldainis," Sam said, the tacit admission that he did indeed know who Gabriel was coming out sharp and serious, "when it comes to the safety and well-being of my customers, I would face down the combined forces of Heaven and Hell to keep them safe, but when it comes to Castiel...." Sam's eyes flicked to Castiel with that familiar softness that never failed to warm the designer inside and out, before looking back at Gabriel, resolute and unmoving, "It would not matter if you were God Himself."

Whatever Gabriel might have said in response was paid no mind as Castiel reached up and tugged his boyfriend of two years down far enough that he could reach Sam's lips with his own. Despite his obvious startlement, Sam was still quick to reciprocate the kiss, arms coming up to wrap around him and hold him close in just the way Castiel loved and treasured every time it happened. Forget romance, forget the trappings of "typical" relationships. As long as Sam was willing to hold him like this and kiss him like his lips were an extension of the hug, Castiel knew he didn't need anything else.

"I love you," he gasped softly as they broke apart to breathe. "After a fashion."

Sam's answering chuckle was just as breathless as Castiel's words before he managed, "Well, after a fashion, I love you, too."

"This isn't how I wanted to do this," Castiel admitted, pulling back enough to reach into his jacket pocket, ignoring the startled exclamation from Gabriel of "You're carrying it with you?!" Clearing his throat, he glanced down, then looked up into Sam's eyes. "I was going to be irritatingly romantic and wait until our anniversary."

"We've got enough to worry about around Halloween," Sam reminded him, though there was a distracted edge to his voice as his eyes trailed from Castiel's down to the small velvet box in his hand. "Cas... are you...?"

"I am," Castiel admitted, carefully holding up the box one-handed and prying at the lid with his fingertips, "completely and utterly committed to spending as much time as possible in your company, Sam Winchester." He finally got the box open and held up the glossy black titanium ring with bevelled edges for Sam to see. "Be my best friend forever?"

The box squished between them as Sam hugged him tight. "Of course I will," the taller man mumbled into his hair. "Best friends forever, 'til death do us part." There was a beat of silence, and then, "You're designing our suits."

"You're making our cake."

"Deal," Sam said, stepping back enough to offer up a pinky.

"Deal," Castiel agreed, linking his pinky with Sam's, still holding the ring box. His face hurt from being stretched as it was, but he didn't think he was going to stop smiling for a long, long time.


End file.
